Bitcoin 2 is an experimental fork of the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin 2 upgrade turns Bitcoin into a EVM-compatible layer 1 which settles transactions in real time.
Bitcoin development has been somewhat stagnant since the SegWit upgrade in 2017. This is somewhat by design. Bitcoin is currently primarily being used as a store of value. For that use case no new functionality is necessary. However in 2024, there are more use cases for blockchains than just digital stores of value. Bitcoin 2 adds that missing functionality.
Bitcoin 2 was created by the infamous bonermuncher69 and is maintained by an anonymous set of core developers around the world.
The network forked after the 4th having at block #839999. User's who self custody their Bitcoin 1 can claim their Bitcoin 2 using the Migration Tool.
Watch the tutorial on how to unlock your Bitcoin 2
Download Bitcoin 2 Core from GitHub
Join the Converstion on Discord
This will give developers the opportunity to deploy smart contracts on Bitcoin 2. Being an EVM chain allows Bitcoin 2 to leverage all of the existing blockchain infrastructure built around Ethereum. Bitcoin 2 users can use EVM-chain wallets like Metmask and the Ethereum development community can deploy smart contracts to Bitcoin 2 using their favorite development tools.
Bitcoin 2 has a new validation process to enable a better user experience when interacting with the protocol. Users send transactions to block proposers who include transactions in blocks in real time. That saves users from having to wait to see if their transition will be included in a block or not. Transactions are then validated after the fact in 10 minute intervals like they were in Bitcoin 1.
As of 2024 Bitcoin users pay miners about $2M in fees every day. When Satoshi designed the Bitcoin protocol, digital scarcity had not been bootstrapped yet. Now that digital scarcity exists we can pay users for use of their coins in the validation process instead of paying miners for hash power. Turning Bitcoin into revenue generating asset makes holding the tokens more lucrative than Bitcoin 1.
Bitcoin the software is not Bitcoin the token or Bitcoin the idea. The core node has been rewritten from the ground up in Rust. It has also been massively simplified where possible.
Bitcoin 2 has zero inflation. Validators are paid soley by transaction fees. This makes Bitcoin 2 the most scarce digital asset in existance.
Bitcoin 2 forked at the 4th halving: block 839,999. Any utxo in that set will be spendable on the Bitcoin 2 network. No new coins will be issued. That means, BlackRock, Micheal Saylor, Jack Dorsey and Elon musk all hold the keys to Bitcoin 2 tokens. Whether they spend them is still to be determined.
Use the Migration Tool to migrate your Bitcoin 1 from a Ledger to Metamask. Use the Ethereum Bridge to trade your tokens there while Bitcoin 2 is in the bootstrap phase.